Penn Class of 2023 ED Results ONLY

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Pennsylvania
1

We are less than a week (December 13th at 7PM EST) from finding out our results - let’s all post our results here for all of the future applicants to view. I would suggest filling this out before finding out your decision.

This thread is only for results; please do not post anything other than a version of the template below. If any questions should arise with regards to one of the posters, DM them.

Here is last years thread (class of 2022): http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/2039187-penn-class-of-2022-ed-results-only.html

Gook luck!

Here is the template (taken from @crsd36 , modified to include dual degree programs):

(For any dual degree applicants, otherwise delete) Pick one:

[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - Huntsman[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - LSM[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - M&T[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - NHCM[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - VIPER[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - Comp. & Cog. Sci[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - Bio-Dent[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - DMD[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - NETS[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Huntsman[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - LSM[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - M&T[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - NHCM[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - VIPER[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Comp. & Cog. Sci[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Bio-Dent[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - DMD[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - NETS[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - Huntsman[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - LSM[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - M&T[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - NHCM[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - VIPER[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - Comp. & Cog. Sci[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - Bio-Dent[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - DMD[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - NETS[ /color]

Pick one:

[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - CAS[ /color]
[ color=green]]Decision: Accepted - SEAS[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - Wharton[ /color]
[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - Nursing[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - CAS[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - SEAS[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Wharton[ /color]
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Nursing[ /color]
[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - CAS[ /color]
[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - SEAS[ /color]
[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - Wharton[ /color]
[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - Nursing[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score):
Unweighted/Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP/IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
Number of other ED applicants in your school:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Experience:
Teacher Recommendation #1:
Teacher Recommendation #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview:

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn:
Any dual-degree program essays:
CommonApp Essay:

Other:
Date Submitted App:
Applied for Financial Aid?
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket Range:
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
What would you have done differently?:

Other Factors:

2

MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Please use this thread for results only, since non-result posts will be deleted. General discussion posts should be placed in the following thread:
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/2072656-upenn-ed-class-of-2023.html#latest

3

[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - Wharton[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1520 (790 Math, 730 English, 16/24 Essay)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1520 (790 Math, 730 English, 18/24 Essay)
ACT (breakdown): NA
ACT superscore (breakdown): NA
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 800, Literature: 640
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: NA (School doesn’t use GPA)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): NA (School doesn’t use rank)
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): IB (39/42 in 11th finals, 39/45 in 12th Mid-years, 40/45 Predicted)
Senior Year Course Load: Math HL, Eco HL, History HL, English Lit. SL, Comp. SL, German ab initio
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 2 others (1 to Wharton, 1 to CAS)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): IAYP Bronze, Distinction in Trinity Drums Grades 8 & 7.

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  1. Music: Drums: First from school to give a Trinity Grade 8 (& 7) exam (and pass with Distinction)
  2. Music: Tabla: 3rd in Inter-house Tabla solo competition twice
  3. Moderator at an online community
  4. Some Coursera Courses
  5. Trekking to Antarctic Peninsula
    Job/Work Experience: Interned at finance Departments of 2 companies
    Volunteer/Community Service:
  6. Helped organize a Blood Donation Camp
  7. Paper Recycling, Panchayat Ghar Child Ed
    Summer Experience: Student Exchange to School in Australia

Teacher Recommendation #1: Likely 6/10 from Math Teacher who is not the best writer and doesn’t know me that well + I only did mediocre in his class.
Teacher Recommendation #2: Likely 6/10 from Eco Teacher who doesn’t know me that well + I submitted my counselor rec. form late to him.
Counselor Rec: Likely 9/10 from Tutor who had read my common app essay, also happens to be my English Teacher
Additional Info/Rec: None.
Interview: 7/10, I was seeing the world through a very biased lens that day so can’t really tell whether it went well or not. I might have dropped some truth bombs.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 8/10 (Great introduction and conclusion, I laid out everything I could end up doing on a typical day at Penn)
Any dual-degree program essays: NA
CommonApp Essay: 12/10 (One of the best Common App Essays counselors in my area have ever read, about my experiences as a moderator of an online community. Brutally honest in some parts.)

Other:
TOEFL English Language Proficiency Test for International Students: 110/120 (27 Reading, 29 Listening, 28 Speaking, 26 Writing)
Music Portfolio:

  1. Recording of Trinity Grade 8 Drums piece “Frantic”, with slightly cringeworthy laugh at the end.
  2. Recording of Tabla duet at Inter-House Competition.
    Date Submitted App: 11/1/18
    Applied for Financial Aid?: No.
    Country: India
    School Type: Private, Boarding, All Boys
    Ethnicity: Indian
    Gender: Male
    Income Bracket Range: Around $200,000
    Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): NA

Reflection
Strengths: Common App Essay is an honest reflection on my personality, SAT is decent, Math II is great, Involvement in Music is deep
Weaknesses: Teacher recommendations, Interview(…?), SAT Literature (640 is just too bad),
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Nowhere yet, didn’t apply any EA.
What would you have done differently?: Could’ve built better relationships with teachers for recommendations and even in general, interview could probably have been a tad bit better, Portfolio needed more takes, Should’ve written easays earlier

Other Factors: Apparently they take really less people from India

4

[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - Wharton[ /color]
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1560 (790 M, 770 R, 24 Essay)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Only took once.
ACT (breakdown): None
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): 800 on Math II, Chemistry, World History
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 3.99
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): ~50/450 (out of top 10% due to running start statpadders lmao)
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): Calc AB, Calc BC, World History, US History, Chem, Physics C Mechanics, Eng Lang (only 5s)
Senior Year Course Load: AP BIO, AP STAT, AP LIT, Jazz Band, Orchestra, TA (due to scheduling issues)
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

Classical Piano: 2nd Place in State Solo. MTNA WA State/NW Regional Duet Champion, will play in national finals in March. Numerous local/regional awards. Play in renowned school orchestra. Sent in music supplements.

Swimming: Swim team Captain. Swim with club team and compete at a local and regional level.

Jazz Piano: Lead Piano player on one of the nation’s top HS jazz bands.

Helped found club for political civility and discourse within our school.

Job/Work Experience: Worked at my mom’s office for a while. Nothing much.

Volunteer/Community Service: Played volunteer gigs with school jazz band, many hours.

Summer Experience:

Teacher Recommendation #1: 8-9/10? Really amazing History Teacher.

Teacher Recommendation #2: 5?/10 kinda deadpan physics teacher, but I did very well in his class. Not sure if he really liked me or not, and he moved to a different school this year.

Counselor Rec:

Additional Info/Rec: 7-8/10: Letter of Rec from one of my piano teachers

Interview: Okay. 7/10? I sometimes struggled to get what I wanted out nicely.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 6.5/10. Kinda bland, talked a lot about the school, but not much about myself. Liked it when I sent it, but not so much now. I always struggle with “why x school” essays to be honest.
Any dual-degree program essays:
CommonApp Essay: 5-8/10. Very “out there” essay about piano and birds and feelings. Not sure how Penn would take it.

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/30/18
Applied for Financial Aid? No
U.S. State/Territory or Country: WA
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender:Male
Income Bracket Range: 200k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): None

Reflection
Strengths: scores, extracurriculars (mostly just piano)
Weaknesses: Class Rank, senior year schedule, perhaps recs, essays. I am not well liked at my school, and it is possible someone could have sabotaged my application through either recs or by directly contacting the school.
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Waiting on UChicago EA
What would you have done differently?: Better prep for interview and essays.

5

[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - CAS[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): NA
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): NA
ACT (breakdown): 34 (35 all except 31 math)
ACT superscore (breakdown): NA
SAT II (subject, score): Spanish 800, us history 710
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 5.11 on my school’s scale, approx 3.85/4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 24/423, didn’t report
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): APs All 4s: human geo, world, apush, bio, Lang
Senior Year Course Load: online: AP psych and micro, in school: AP macro, gov and pol, English lit, enviro sci, Spanish Language. Honors pre calc and mandatory regular religion class

Number of other ED applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP with Distinction, nhs and other honor societies

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
-Key Club President 2018-19, VP 2017-18.
-Editor-in-chief of school journalism publication.
-VP of Model UN 2017-19, Secretary 2016-17.
-Writer for several small music publications. I interview musicians (some very well known) and write articles which have been published in print several times.
-Varsity swim 2016 and 2017 seasons
-Family responsibilities 2-3 hours a day
Job/Work Experience: Summer jobs below
Volunteer/Community Service: Had more but I just mentioned key club
Summer Experience: 2018 internship at a prominent video editing company in NYC. 2017 camp counselor job.
Teacher Recommendation #1: 7/10 apush teacher, we weren’t very close but I know they liked me and my writing a lot, they’re an excellent teacher so the letter couldn’t have been too bad
Teacher Recommendation #2: 7/10 ap lit teacher, basically same circumstances as other letter
Counselor Rec: 9/10, We were pretty close and I think they liked me a lot.
Additional Info/Rec: 9/10 rec from my supervisor at my NYC internship, I think they really spoke to the initiative and creativity I showed there and the nature of my work ethic. For addl info I think I mentioned the online classes I picked up this year since they weren’t on my transcript yet, that I never took pre algebra so my math grades suffered, and how the advisor in one of clubs prevented us from doing as much as we wanted to
Interview: 8.5/10, only about 35 minutes but it went well, interviewer was experienced and very easy going. I think I answered all their questions well except a minor one.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 8.5/10, It could’ve been more formal/coherent but I spent a ton of time on it and I think it really showed how well I know the school and how it’s a good fit for me.
Any dual-degree program essays: NA
CommonApp Essay: 8/10, wrote about being the only vegan in my family when I go to my small farming hometown in Spain and how I made my ethics and culture coexist

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/29
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Florida
School Type: parochial
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: F
Income Bracket Range: ~125k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): URM (Hispanic and lgbt), first gen immigrant and triple citizenship if that matters

Reflection
Strengths: Relevant ECs to my major, I talked face to face to my AO (and think I made a good impression) and told them something about my essay they would remember so I think they knew who I was when reading my app.
Weaknesses: For recs, the teachers i was closest to were club advisors and not my core academic teachers so those weren’t as good as they could have been. Although I had an upward curve in math throughout the years it brought down my ACT scores and gpa. I also worry I didn’t show I had the creativity and passion they want in a student. Also my grades aren’t amazing.

Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: None yet
What would you have done differently?: Obviously have some regrets as to how my ECs could have been better (I think everyone does to some extent) but none in the application itself, I really tried my absolute hardest

Other Factors: being Hispanic is probably not much of a hook in the Florida applicant pool. Also, my school has been known to send wrong letters of recommendation, so they might have received letters from teachers who weren’t core academic teachers junior/senior year. But I am soooo over the moon and still completely in shock!! Can’t wait to see some of you on Locust next year!

6

[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Wharton[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): submitted both 1530 (790 math, 740 English, 20/24 essay) and 1570 (800 math, 770 English, no essay)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1570 (800 math, 770 English, 20/24 essay)
ACT (breakdown): n/a
ACT superscore (breakdown): n/a
SAT II (subject, score): math I 760 and 780, math II 800, biology e 800
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4.0 unweighted, 4.60 weighted (school doesn’t offer AP classes until junior year)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): school doesn’t rank
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): APUSH (5), bio (5), chem (this year), bc calc (this year), stats (this year), Spanish (this year)
Senior Year Course Load: AP chem, AP chem lab (our chem and bio APs are split into two classes), AP bc calc, AP stats, AP Spanish, humanities, anatomy, gym
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 2 others I think?
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): was 1 point away from being a semifinalist in USABO
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): NM Semifinalist, NHS, Yale Book Award, Underclassmen Awards at my school

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  • Kung Fu assistant teacher, black belt, been going there since 3rd grade
  • XC JV and Varsity grades 10-12
  • distance track JV and Varsity grades 9-12
  • health sciences lab research at a local college summer before grade 12
  • ski team JV and Varsity and recreational racing since kindergarten
  • volunteer coach for Healthy Kids Running Series grades 11-12
  • intern/volunteer at local library grades 11-12
  • recycling club at school grades 9-12
  • led a school-wide shoe drive for Big Brother Big Sister grade 11

Job/Work Experience:

  • math tutor grades 10-12

Volunteer/Community Service:

  • under extracurriculars

Summer Experience:

  • lab research, kept doing Kung Fu and library and running

Teacher Recommendation #1: AP bio teacher
Teacher Recommendation #2: APUSH teacher (don’t really know how to rate these since I didn’t read)
Counselor Rec: she said it was one of the best she’s ever written
Additional Info/Rec: from Kung Fu teacher who has known me for a long time
Interview: went well, we talked for a very long time and had common interests

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: good connection to all of my interests 8/10
Any dual-degree program essays: n/a
CommonApp Essay: very personal story 9/10

Other:
Date Submitted App: late October
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Massachusetts
School Type: public
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket Range: middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none!

Reflection
Strengths: grades, difficulty of curriculum compared to others in my school (few people are crazy enough to take 4.5 APs haha), unique extracurriculars for one applying to a business school?
Weaknesses: extracurriculars not business related yet applied to the best undergraduate business school :slight_smile:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: nowhere yet this was my first result
What would you have done differently?: I like my extracurriculars and even though they’re not business related I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

Other Factors:
EXTREMELY HAPPY with this deferral and will update in March! Good luck to anyone scrolling through this, slowly deteriorating their mental health, as I did not too long ago. This is a message of hope to those “well-rounded” applicants that feel bad about themselves for not having a “spike.”

7

[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - CAS[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 710 on Math and CR 19/24 Essay
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Same as above
ACT (breakdown): 31
ACT superscore (breakdown): only one sitting
SAT II (subject, score): 770 US History 740 Chemistry
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 5.1981/4.5 Weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 16/260
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): APUSH (5) AP Psych (5) APES (4) AP Lang (3) AP Chem (3) AP World History (3)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Academy Capstone (not college board but weighted as AP), AP Lit, AP Calc, Latin IV H, Band, Child Development Seminar
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): 5 time medalist at North Atlantic Regional Championships
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): High Honor Roll, AP Scholar with Distinction

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Figure Skating 2nd Grade- Present USFSA Gold Medalist 5 time Regional Medalist Band (9-12) field commander, section leader, trumpet soloist. Rainbow Connection (11-12) LGBT anti bullying program I started where I visited middle schools to talk about coming out, Mock Trial (10-12) lead lawyer and lead witness, NHS
Job/Work Experience: Figure Skating Coach and rink guard
Volunteer/Community Service: volunteer at middle school plays to do crew
Summer Experience: New Jersey Boys State
Teacher Recommendation #1: APUSH teacher- I think this was really good because I was one of her only 5s in recent years and we had a small class so we both knew each other really well.
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Lang and Lit teacher- This teacher and I are really close and we always had engaging discussions in her class and we both have a very similar dry sense of humor.
Counselor Rec: Probably pretty good- we didn’t talk much, but all interactions were positive.
Additional Info/Rec: Written by figure skating coach of 10 years so she wrote me a very personal letter of rec. Additional info I talked about how I changed my school’s anti discrimination policy to be more LGBT inclusive and how I got figure skating added as an option for next year’s common app.
Interview: 9.5/10 she seemed to really bond with me and she had the same major I had with he same career. When I asked her why she chose Penn it was basically everything I had said.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 9/10 I was extremely specific about the classes I wanted to take and the programs I wanted to do at Penn.
Any dual-degree program essays: n/a
CommonApp Essay: 9/10 I wrote about coming out and feeling alone and how this has motivated me to be more open about myself and to try to set an example for the younger generations as they come out.

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/24
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
U.S. State/Territory or Country: New Jersey
School Type: Public School (low income school)
Ethnicity: white
Gender: male
Income Bracket Range: upper middle class
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): my dad works for a company asssiciated with Penn Medicine, gay

Reflection
Strengths: Extra Curriculars, LGBTQ+ Outreach Program
Weaknesses: SAT Scores
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: nowhere
What would you have done differently?: I honestly wouldn’t have changed anything, my application was a reflection of everything I genuinely enjoyed and was passionate about and I think that showed to the admissions officers.

8

[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Wharton[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I: 1520 (790M, 730R)
SAT I superscore: same as above but I didn’t send it
ACT: 35 (35G, 35R, 35S, 33M)
ACT superscore: same as above I only took it once
SAT II: 770 physics, 800 math II
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: Unweighted - 3.94 / Weighted - 4.403
Rank: nope we don’t do that
AP/IB: AP Chinese - 5, APUSH - 5 (I had other fours but I didn’t send those in)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics I and II, AP Literature, AP Psychology, AP Computer Science, Weightlifting lmao

Number of other ED applicants in your school: one other maybe two (one was an athlete)
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): okay I was really good at chess when I was younger and idk if these awards go here but I’m gonna put them anyway.

  • Ranked 47th in the US for girls 16 and younger (when I was 16)
  • 12th place at the All-Girl Nationals 2017 for 16U
  • Champion of Chicago K-9 Varsity section 2015
  • 3rd place at the Susan Polgar World Open 2014

Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): also idk if these things go here but this is what I put on the resume that I submitted

  • National Honors Society (Grades 11-12)
  • AP Scholar with Distinction
  • High School Honor Roll (Grades 9-12)
  • Best Witness Award at the 2018 Illinois State Bar Association High School State Tournament
  • 3rd place in the Illinois Poetry and Prose Competition (IATE)
  • Nominated as an Illinois Chess Association Rising Star Player

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): (fair warning I really took to heart the “try everything you can” my freshman year)

  • Mock Trial Varsity Team (Grades 10-12) --> one of the team captains
  • Scholastic Bowl Varsity Team (Grades 9-12) --> one of the team captains
  • Future Business Leaders of America (Grade 9) --> I know this doesn't look great but I did explain in my interview that I wasn't interested in Business at first and when I did start becoming interested my junior year, when I re-looked back at the club, none of the activities really encompassed what I truly wanted to do with business.
  • MedCats (Grades 10-11)
  • Debate Club (Grade 9)
  • Cosmetics Club (Grade 9)
  • Interact Club (Volunteering Club) (Grade 9)
  • Congressman Robert Dold Young Women’s Leadership Academy (Grade 10)
  • Academic Decathlon (Grade 12)
  • Softball
  • Travel: since I was like 7 years old. Went to nationals a few times, won state, won pretty much every single regional tournament, awarded MVP a lot.
  • High School: Won regionals last year, JV and Varsity my whole high school career, All academic awards all my years
  • Got selected as one of the women who went to the WashU women of future in business weekend.
  • Ran a small cosmetics company of my own at my school. Did students makeup and hair for school dances or any other formal events they had in their lives. Spread to surrounding high schools. Recruited some of my other makeup-savvy friends to help me out with the large number of requests we were getting.

Job/Work Experience: I work as a waitress at a senior living home for elders with Parkinson’s, dementia, and other illnesses. Few hours a week nothing crazy

Volunteer/Community Service:

  • Lake County Haven: A women's shelter for women and children who are escaping child abuse
  • Feed My Starving Children (ALOT)
  • North Chicago Community Partners (summer school for low-income immigrant children)

Summer Experience:

  • pretty much all softball, work, and volunteering
  • softball took up a lot of my time with going to different states every weekend, around 8 hours of practice a week, and tournaments from Thursday to Sunday with pretty much 12 hours of softball a day.

Teacher Recommendation #1: (10/10) → I didn’t read it but my college counselor did and she said it was phenomenal. I was her favorite student (she admitted it to me many times). I loved her.
Teacher Recommendation #2: (9/10) → counselor also read it. Very good, not as close of a connection as I did with my other teacher but I was the only one who talked in his class and our personalities mixed very well.
Counselor Rec: idk probably good idk why it wouldn’t be but it was probably generic. I did try to form a connection with her but I went to a big school.
Additional Info/Rec:uh no
Interview: pretty good, we talked for about an hour. Connected over our love for sports and the cubs. Wharton alum.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: (9/10) → really good. I talked about my love for entrepreneurship and a few of my entrepreneurship ideas. I talked about how I would use Penn’s resources to help me accomplish those ideas and make them a reality. incorporated a lot of ben franklin’s virtues into it.

Any dual-degree program essays: Nah maybe transfer in
CommonApp Essay: (9/10) um so mine was kinda risky ngl but looks like it was okay because I didn’t get straight rejected. Talked about how much I cry → but in a light-hearted funny way

Other: no
Date Submitted App: like a week before the due date
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
U.S. State/Territory or Country: ILLINOIS BABY GO CUBS FLY THE W!!!
School Type: large public like 2500 kids
Ethnicity: Chinese
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: 250k I think
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athletes, development): I wish

Reflection
Strengths: grades, recs, extracurriculars
Weaknesses: took regular math classes til a senior year
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: already accepted to IU
What would you have done differently?: taken harder math classes and shown more interest in business through my clubs

I mean like it’s not an acceptance but I’m not upset at all. Very honored to have been deferred.

9

Pick one:
[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - CAS[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 750/760/21
SAT II (subject, score): 770 Math II, 730 Literature
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4.0 UW, school doesn’t do weighted gpas
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/474
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): AP Bio (4) APUSH (4) AP Physics 1 (3) AP Lit (4) AP World (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Calc BC, AP Lang, AP Psych, Dual Enrollment Contemporary Issues, Dual Enrollment Latin American History, Honors Spanish 4 (school only offers AP for native speakers)
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): n/a
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar w/ distinction, honor roll every marking period, Rotary Youth Leadership Award, All League XC

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Varsity Cross Country Grade 9-12: All League Honors, Varsity Member Grade 10-12
Varsity Indoor Track Grade 9-12
Varsity Outdoor Track Grade 9-12
School Spirit Club Grade 9-12
Spanish Honor Society Grade 10-12: Vice President Grades 11&12
Student Council: Grade 9&10
National Honor Society: Grade 11&12
Job/Work Experience:
Childcare Center Worker August 2018-Present
Volunteer/Community Service:
Over 250 hours for local public schools and school
Summer Experience:
Summer before Senior Year: In and out of hospital… not much room for activities haha
Summer before Junior Year: XC Camp, Volunteer work
Summer before Sophomore Year: Volunteering
Teacher Recommendation #1: 9/10 Bio teacher had for two years
Teacher Recommendation #2: 7/10 AP World Teacher. Loved her but she wrote a lot of recs
Counselor Rec: Not sure but he knew me really well so I feel really good about it.
Interview: It was honestly only 15 minutes long and I have no idea how it went

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: Honestly… it was probably pretty generic but I do feel like it strongly exuded WHY Penn so maybe 7/10
Any dual-degree program essays: N/A
CommonApp Essay: I really don’t know how to rank it because it was super personal and kind of risky… About how I’ve been in and out of the hospital for a chronic illness since this spring and how it completely flipped my life around but also how it shaped who I am and what I want to do in the future

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/31
Applied for Financial Aid? Yesss
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NJ
School Type: Large (Low Income) Urban Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket Range: 80k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Nope

Reflection:
Strengths: GPA, Rank, Lack of Penn applicants at my school
Weaknesses: My SAT score… Although it was yes very strong for Ivies its not considered high and ECs. I focused a lot of my time on sports even though I wasn’t going to realistically go anywhere with it because I just love running so much.
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted to a local school and University of Scranton
What would you have done differently?: I guess more ECs. I don’t even know

10

[ color=orange]Decision: Deferred - Wharton[ /color]
Objective:
ACT (breakdown): 35 (36/36/35/33/8)
Superscore: 36(36,36,36,35/9)
SAT II (subject, score): Math II (800)
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4.00 UW, weighted: 5.488
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/259
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): IB Spanish SL (7)
Senior Year Course Load: IB History of the 20th Century HL, IB English Lit HL, IB Math HL, IB Chemistry SL, IB Biology SL, IB TOK
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 0
Awards: National Merit Semifinalist, Gold medal on National Spanish Exam, Highest AMC 10 Score in region

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description) (most activities are all 4 years unless marked w/ *only):
All honors societies at my school
All Region Orchestra(2012-present)
All State Orchestra(2014-present)
Fleur de Lis String Orchestra(2012-present)
Concertmaster of School orchestra(2015-2018)
All City Concertmaster(2016-2017)
JV tennis(2015-2016),Varsity Tennis(2017-present)
Coach’s Award(2018)
Math Team(2015-present) - Captain this year( won some regional awards)
Academic Challenge Team(2015-present), state runner ups every year, captain this year
Tiger Club(Community Service Organization) -2015-present
H2O for life and Spanish Club - 2018(just established clubs, joined for fun)

Job/Work Experience:
Online business (over 150,000 followers)
I donate 50% of profits to local charities and rotate causes
Manager of Special Events at South Carolina State Party Office(10+ hours a week)

Volunteer Experience:
Local Hospital Volunteer(Food service and Medical records(200 hours plus)
Hurricane Harvey Fundraiser(over $5000 raised)
Trick or Can(2015-present), trick or treating for cans for local food drives
Published a book of philantrophic organizations in my town

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 8/10 probably
Any dual-degree program essays: N/A
CommonApp Essay: 8/10

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes will apply
U.S. State/Territory or Country: South Carolina
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: $120,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): n/a
Reflection: Maybe should’ve refined those essays a bit better. Honestly okay with being deffered from Wharton. It’s a great school and I know there were many more qualified applicants than me. Wishing the best to everyone!!! :slight_smile:

11

Decision: Accepted - CAS

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/750/22
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): same as listed
ACT (breakdown): 36M, 36E, 34R, 33S, 10 Essay
ACT superscore (breakdown): same as listed
SAT II (subject, score): Math II: 800, Physics 760
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 95 UW, 105 W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 1%
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): Statistics (5), Calc AB (5), English Lang (5), Macro (4), US History (4), Physics 1 (3)
Senior Year Course Load: only person in my school taking 6 APs AP Calc BC, AP US Gov, AP Lit, AP Spanish Lang, AP Physics C (taken online b/c not offered in school but still given credit), Dance
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):
Honors 1 title
5th in state, 18/2700+ nationally; Girls Go Cyber Start Hackathon: 6-day, 24 hour cybersecurity comp
Grade level
11
Level(s) of recognition
School, State/Regional, National
Honors 2 title
Class-H Room Winner: Game show on Fox; won $500 for my STEM Program; student vs teacher trivia
Grade level
12
Level(s) of recognition
School, State/Regional
Honors 3 title
1st in region; Stockton University’s Math Mayhem: Math competition, three-member group round
Grade level
10
Level(s) of recognition
School, State/Regional
Honors 4 title
1st in region; New Jersey Math League: monthly 30-minute math tests, competes individually & team
Grade level
10, 11, 12
Level(s) of recognition
School, State/Regional
Honors 5 title
1st in school; Association of Mathematics Teachers of New Jersey: individual 45-minute math test
Grade level
11
Level(s) of recognition
School
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Science/Math
11, 12
Year
4 hr/wk, 52 wk/yr
Continue
Founder, STEM Outreach Program
STEM experiments/hands-on demos free for kids; recruited, trained, supervised 20+ volunteers; expanded to regional schools + Boys & Girls Club
Science/Math
9, 10, 11, 12
School
4 hr/wk, 40 wk/yr
Continue
Founder/Pres, Mu Alpha Theta (Math NHS), Math Club
After-school tutor; fundraisers, like Pi Day, for club funds; attend competitions, awarded 1st in region Math Mayhem; 1st in region NJ Math League
Student Govt./Politics
9, 10, 11, 12
School
5 hr/wk, 40 wk/yr
Continue
Vice President/Executive Board, Class Council
Expand student involvement/spirit; plan freshman orientation, pep rallies, Homecoming, Prom; design/sell apparel; work concessions; voted in by peers
Science/Math
12, PG
Year
2 hr/wk, 52 wk/yr
Continue
Student Ambassador, Back To Space
1 of 25 students selected; TV series to integrate STEM & space into pop culture; assist mgmt. team, incl. Apollo astronauts, in publicity & production
Internship
12
Break
168 hr/wk, 4.3 wk/yr
Continue
Intern, NASA STEM Enhancement in Earth Science
Conducted research on GRACE satellites @ TX Space Grant Consort.; coded functions & analyzed data; highly selective unpaid internship (46/500; 9%)
Science/Math
12
School
2 hr/wk, 40 wk/yr
Continue
Scholar, Governor’s STEM Scholars of New Jersey
Research project @ Princeton applying machine learning to learner type detection through data science; pre-professional training; 16% acceptance rate
Social Justice
11, 12
School
12 hr/wk, 2 wk/yr
Speaker, TEDxCapeMay & StocktonU MLK Day Panel
TEDx Talk on the benefits of immersing kids in STEM thru hands-on activities under “Common Ground” theme; student panel discussing free vs hate speech
Social Justice
12
Break
120 hr/wk, 1 wk/yr
Runner-Up Governor, ALA New Jersey Girls State
Ran, campaigned, elected party candidate; advocated for free speech to include discussion of all political issues; prepared,delivered speeches/debates
Community Service (Volunteer)
9, 10, 11, 12
School
3 hr/wk, 40 wk/yr
Executive Board, Peer Mediation
Trained mediator; mediates student conflicts; draws attention to causes like mental health & anti-bullying through assemblies & “Be The Change Day”
Job/Work Experience: None listed
Volunteer/Community Service: Included in EC’s
Summer Experience:
Teacher Recommendation #1: Physics teacher, 10/10
Teacher Recommendation #2: APUSH teacher, 9/10
Counselor Rec: 9/10
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: Went well

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn:
Common App Essay:

Other:
Date Submitted App: Oct 29
Applied for Financial Aid? No
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NJ
School Type: Public, around 300 kids in grade
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: Doesn’t qualify for FA
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): Legacy (both parents), father interviews for Penn and donates annually

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: N/A
What would you have done differently? Literally nothing

Other Factors:

12

[ color=red]Decision: Rejected - Wharton[ /color]
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):1440 (660 Reading, 780 math)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): only take once
ACT (breakdown):N/A
ACT superscore (breakdown):N/A
SAT II (subject, score):760 on Chemistry, 750 on Physics, 750 on math1, 740 on math2
Unweighted/Weighted GPA:95.5/100
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):Top 5%
AP/IB (place score in parentheses):Calculus (4), Microeconomic(4),chemistry (4)
Senior Year Course Load: four APs and Spanish class
Number of other ED applicants in your school:1
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):The second Prize of speech competition in School among one hundred participants.Rewarded as the best representative of NHSDLC in China because I was responsible and hard-working. Participated in Guangdong ASDAN business simulation and won the bronze prize. Publishing articles about low-carbon economy in February 2019 in an international Conference In Thailand
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):The fastest grade grown student
The Highest GPA student in high school,AP Scholar,Honored student

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):A Debate club president for one year, debate representative for national debate organization; Participated in International Future Business leader Summit; founded National Chinese High School Student Startup Competition; Organized a low-carbon economy research institution of over three hundred people in seven provinces and raised over 110,000 RMB for operational expenses;Held a national low-carbon economy conference at Beijing International Conference Center and invited over hundreds of media organizations and two professors as lecturers. Participated in Energy Information Administration s(EIA) International Conference in Washington D.C. My efforts were reported by Knowledge at Wharton High School as a pioneer teenager of the low-carbon economy: The Low-carbon Economy Is a High Global Priority
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service:Not much
Summer Experience:(1)Beijing Youth Literature Review for five months as a writer intern (2)State Board of Equalization of California for one month: Assistant of Fiona Ma
Teacher Recommendation #1: Calculus teacher (9/10)
Teacher Recommendation #2: Economic teacher (9/10)
Counselor Rec:I think she likes me since we talk a lot in school
Additional Info/Rec: Professor from Tsinghua University who attended the conference I held / A graduate student from Cambridge who wrote a paper we published together.
Interview: (5/10) I think I was pretty bad, I was so nervous and we talked about more than one hour, but I didn’t mention what I am going to do for the Upenn Community but only said what I’m going to with my GPA and other stuffs. I think that’s one of the most important reason I didn’t get into Wharton.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn:(8/10) I wrote about how I organize my low-carbon economy study organization in seven province and how hard it is to held a national conference at Beijing International Conference Center.
Any dual-degree program essays:N/A
CommonApp Essay:(7/10)

Other:
Date Submitted App:CommonApp
Applied for Financial Aid?No
U.S. State/Territory or Country:China
School Type:Public(Top three school in my city)
Ethnicity:Asian
Gender:Female
Income Bracket Range:>300,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):My mom went to MBA program and both of my parents went to colleges

Reflection
Strengths:I think my EC is my strength of course, I spend more than six hours on my organization
Weaknesses:I didn’t do that much of community service and my standardize scores are pretty low.
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:Only Umass Amherst yet
What would you have done differently?:I will spend less time on EC and more time on standardize score.

13

Nursing {rejected}

Major: Nursing
GPA: 4.2
UW: 3.6 (somewhat extenuating circumstances to explain)
rank: doesn’t rank
SAT: didn’t submit, 23 on essay
subject tests: took math II and lit, did a lot worse than expected and didn’t submit
ACT: 33 one sitting (35 reading, 34 English, 31 Science, 30 math)
AP: APUSH, AP Human Geography, AP Lang, AP Spanish, AP Macro, AP Gov’t
Dual credits/honors: Biology, English 1/2, Med Terms, A&P, College Comp, CNA
Senior year course load: AP Macro, AP Gov’t, AP Spanish, Anatomy and Physiology (college credit course), Certified Nursing Assistant (college credit course, will be certified to work in hospitals by the end of the year), College Composition (college credit course)
Major Awards: NHS, Honor Roll, Academic Award, Award for volunteer service

Extracurriculars: Speech/Forensics (leadership position: Event captain, 4 years, won several awards for), NHS (2 years, max amt), Lacrosse (Captain sophomore and junior year, 3-4 years), Clinicals for CNA (35+ hours in Nursing home, working directly with patients), Principal Advisory Board (2 years), GERM Magazine (wrote for Online magazine founded by author Jennifer Niven, 2 years), School News paper (Editor, 2 years), Drama (makeup crew, 1 yr)

Job/Work Experience: worked at a café for 6 months and promoted to shift Lead after 3 months, Volunteer at hospital (100+ hrs), worked out of state all summer as a camp Counselor (full time), currently working as a hostess

Essays:

Common App Essay: 9/10- Very personal, wrote in a creative a manner but simple topic (personal growth in relation to growing up in a single parent household)

Why Penn: 7.5/10- i think my idea was solid, I talked about working with an Autistic/ADHD child during the summer and how my experience with him fueled my interest in independent research and how Penn encourages research projects from their undergraduates. While the idea was personal, I think the writing could’ve been more sophisticated

Teacher Recommendations: 9.5/10-Journalism/AP Lang Teacher: I had her bath my sophomore and junior year and we always had a very strong relationship. She pushed me to join the school newspaper and encouraged the growth of my writing, and we always had intellectual conversations about our views. We were very close and she actually reached out to me about writing my recommendation. She was definitely able to portray a better reflection of my personality/individuality

8/10-Medical Terminology/Anatomy and Physiology: I think he gave a good insight into why I want to go into the medical field and how I worked towards my goals, but we didn’t have as much of a personal relationship. I honestly don’t know how his letter turned out.

Counselor Rec: 8.5/10: He was an English teacher before, so I don’t doubt his elegance, I’m not sure how personal it was though. We always had a really great relationship and he thought I was a perfect fit for Penn, and constantly backed up my decision to ED, so I think it’s pretty good.

Submitted 10/26, applied for financial aid
[ *] State (if domestic applicant): IL
[ *] School Type: Public, pretty average (2400+)
[ *] Ethnicity: White
[ *] Gender: female
[ *] Income Bracket: <75K
[ *] Assets: none
[ *] Property: House, 180000 left
[ *] Extenuating Circumstances: explained in app
[ *] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
[ /list]

Reflection
Strengths: ACT, Course load, Recs
Weaknesses: GPA, Extracurriculars, Penn essay
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted: Nursing for Loyola, Bradley, and Marquette, waiting on Case Western
What would you have done differently?: definitely worked harder to maintain a higher GPA, and also done more activities to showcase my interest. Wish I wrote my essay a little differently. Also really wished I got the chance to interview, it probably would not have changed anything but I definitely think it would’ve showcased me more!

Other Factors:
I mainly wanted to post this because I hardly ever see Nursing rejects and I wanted to show for the classes to come. My application was a reach to begin with due to my GPA, but I honestly encourage all future classes to at least try and apply! It’s worth a shot because you honestly never know. Congratulations to everyone who got in, you guys will do amazing! For those who didn’t, there’s more out there and you will end up where you want to be (:

14

Decision: Rejected - Huntsman (Chinese)/Wharton

Note everyone, delete the spaces in the brackets for the color to show

Everything on here I submitted to Penn unless explicitly stated otherwise

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1540 - 790 M, 750 W+R, 20 Essay
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1540, same as above because both my sat scores had exact same subs lol
ACT (breakdown): 35 - 36M, 35R, 35 W, 33 S
ACT superscore (breakdown): same as above
SAT II (subject, score): 800 Math 2, 800 Chinese, did not submit a 660 in US History
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4 UW, 4.3415
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 9/556
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): 5s in Human Geography, Chinese, Calc BC/AB Subscore, Lang, US History, Euro, and a 4 in APES. Got a 2 in Physics 1 but didn’t self submit.
Senior Year Course Load: Calculus 3, Differential Equations, both AP econs, AP bio, AP gov, Spanish 4, AP Lit, AP Stats
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 1

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): tbh nothing really

Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):
My non profit recognized on two newspapers
Best delegate at LSH regional MUN conference (I sent this one as an applicant update)
Outstanding essay 9th grade for a national chinese youth essay competition
Honor societies: NHS, Spanish NHS (Vice president), Science NHS
Technology Student Association 2 time state finalist
National Merit Commended Scholar

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

  1. Co-founded my own tutoring nonprofit junior year, traveled the community to tutor kids of all ages, got over 3k in revenue/donations, over 50 clients and 400 hours
  2. MUN (11,12), President and Treasurer as well as founding member (started my junior year). Organized and lead club meetings
  3. Math Club (11,12) - Co-president and secretary. Organized study sessions, lead math team, loved talking and doing math with teachers and classmates

Job/Work Experience:

  1. Recreation Center (11, 12) - I was a tennis monitor and managed 11 courts by myself. Loved interacting with customers, took phone calls, managed money
  2. Kumon (11,12) - Tutored, graded, did check in at local Kumon center. Inspired my idea for my nonprofit

Volunteer/Community Service:

  1. AID Organization - teaching English in Taiwan this summer for a month
  2. Joyous Chinese Cultural Center (JCCC) (11,12) - cooked and taught Chinese at a local non profit promoting cultural and linguistic roots for adopted Chinese children
  3. Interact Club (9,10,11,12) (treasurer and JCCC Coordinator) - volunteered for local and international orgs through this club. I also introduced JCCC as a volunteering opportunity as well.

Summer Experience: These took up 3 sections on my common app activities.

  1. I traveled to Taiwan summer of 2018 to teach English at local elementary schools for the AID program. Wrote and gave closing ceremony speech in Mandarin. Team captain for the volunteers assigned to our specific school
  2. I attended 3 Chinese cultural camps in the summers of 2015, 2016, and 2017 in 3 different Chinese cities, sponsored by the Chinese gov targeting foreign born Chinese children.
  3. I attended a buddhism and ancient chinese education camp in summer of 2015 (9th grade), spoke alongside head monk to about 2000 native Chinese about the significance of the camp for an American.

Teacher Recommendation #1: Spanish 3 Junior Year Teacher - He let me read it and it captured my interests in business and international studies. Also really emphasized how ambitious I am and my intelligence and kindness in his class. Also talked about an instance where I demonstrated empathy, and my love for foreign cultures and languages.

Teacher Recommendation #2: AP Calc BC, Calc 3, and Differential Equation junior and senior year teacher - She loved me and although I have no idea what she wrote, I did submit info about myself, my dreams etc for her to write my letter. I am very outgoing and outspoken in her class, and achieve a great balance between fun and work ethic and she probably wrote about that. She also sponsors math club and I have gone with her to a few math competitions revealing the competitive yet good sport side in me too. Overall took almost two months for her to write (everyone asks her because she is the best teacher we have ever been taught by, hands down)

Counselor Rec: 9/10, he wrote a penn specific rec just for me because he knew how much I wanted to get in! He knows my family pretty well because he also had my brother who is now a junior in college.

Additional Info/Rec: 9 or 10/10, Got a rec from the vice principal of the Taiwan elementary school I volunteered at. She actually wrote a Huntsman specific rec and did a lot of research on the program! She really loved me during the month in Taiwan and we still keep in touch.

Interview: 7.5/10, Average, I got most of my points across. It was a skype interview with a Huntsman alum from Cali, lasted around 35 minutes.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn/Wharton: 8/10, showed my knowledge for the school and what about the school made it stand out to me, focused less on Wharton and why I wanted to pursue an interdisciplinary route with CAS

Any dual-degree program essays: Huntsman 9/10, talked about the negative stigma surrounding today’s modern Chinese tourists. Gave examples of international events regarding Chinese tourists which reflected my knowledge on global affairs, and also talked about how though I am unable to solve it now, Huntsman will provide the tools and experiences for me to do so. I think the topic was pretty unique, because imo a lot of Chinese applicants would write about the south China sea conflict, the belt and road initiative, or the trade war

CommonApp Essay: 9.5/10, talked about my encounter with a lady on a Nanchang, China public city bus. She sang her heart out in front of many strangers and I talked about the situation’s impact on me. Showcased my personality through an anecdote as well, also very unique.

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/31
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Colorado
School Type: Public, 2000+ students
Ethnicity: Asian (Chinese)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 100k+
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): NA

Reflection, leadership, math strength, senior year rigor
Strengths: Recommendations, passion/experience in China and Chinese, test scores
Weaknesses: ECs not as strong as many applicants, nothing very business oriented except for my nonprofit, I honestly can’t help but think if something in my application just got off on the wrong foot with a AO or something, really sad I wasn’t deferred, Penn doesn’t have much info on our school because not a lot of people apply (1/29 have been accepted in the last 6 years), being Asian lol
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: accepted to states, nowhere else yet
What would you have done differently?: Started much earlier in High School exhibiting my passion for international studies and business. However I didn’t know I wanted to do that until junior year so glad I utilized my resources then

Life sucks at the moment, but life moves on! Just gotta remember everything happens for a reason. Congrats everyone and good luck to everyone still stuck in this college app process!

15

Decision: Rejected - M&T
**Decision: Deferred - Engineering/b

Objective
SAT I (M/CR+W): 1560 (790/770)
SAT I superscore (M/CR+W): 1570 (800/770)
SAT II: Math II (800), Chemistry (790)
Unweighted GPA: 3.95
Rank: top 10% probably, school doesn’t rank
AP: Calculus BC (5), Statistics (5), Physics C: Mechanics (5), Physics C: E&M (5), Chemistry (5), Biology (5), Psych (5), English Lang (5), US History (4), World History (4)
Senior Year Course Load: DE Linear Algebra/Differential Equations, DE International Business, AP CompSci Principles, AP Micro/Macro, PLTW Principles of Engineering, Business Internship, Creative Expressions
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 6-10
Major Awards: none rip
Common Awards: NMSF, National AP Scholar, state-level public speaking

Subjective
Extracurriculars: few school-level clubs where I held tons of leadership… really could have worked harder to stand out here. I’m really passionate about everything I do, but I spread myself too thin and didn’t do anything notably impressive.
Job/Work Experience: intern for consulting firm, worked with cool companies but didn’t do anything too special
Volunteer/Community Service: mentored middle schoolers in public speaking, related to my overcoming of social anxiety
Summer Experience: see above Job/Work Experience
Teacher/Counselor Recommendations: 8-9/10, didn’t get to see them but I’m really close with all of them
Interview: 10/10, really connected with him and he really liked my overall “story”, but this plays almost null role so

Writing
CommonApp Essay: 8/10 - overcoming social anxiety
Why Penn: 10/10 - hands down, best essay… I did focus on both SEAS and Wharton though, I know the prompt said only your second choice (SEAS for me)
Disruptive Technology: 7/10 - BMIs, really passionate about this though it came off more academic than I’d have liked
Creativity & Leadership: 6/10 - changed at last minute rip

Other
Date Submitted App: 11/01, ifykyk
Applied for Financial Aid? No
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Midwest, not PA
School Type: Public, more competitive than most but not crazy
Ethnicity: Asian rip
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: $200k+
Hooks: N/A

Reflection
Strengths: scores, internship, relationships (recs/interview)
Weaknesses: not doing anything substantial in high school

  • Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected*: nothing noteworthy yet, expecting Michigan result on 19th
    What would you have done differently?: cured cancer. jk, but still I would have focused my efforts on a specific thing - enacting a quantifiable change (founding a nonprofit and raising $20k+), creating a profitable business, winning a major competition (Olympiad, Intel)
    for those who still have time, scrap the DECA/HOSA/rotary/etc. and focus 200% of your time on these upper-echelon ideals, that’s the surest way of getting into a T10 school.
    Final thoughts? I was never expecting M&T, despite my obsessing over it for two years now. It feels good, I guess, to be considered still. (I couldn’t have been accepted to SEAS alone as I applied to it RD.) Regardless, the future holds many opportunities, and my biggest takeaway is to seize them by their horns. I can’t wait to apply that in my journey, as this one (high school) comes to an end.
16

Decision: Rejected - Huntsman
Decision: Deferred - Wharton

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1420 in one sitting- 760/740CR & 640/680M
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1440- 760CR & 680M
ACT (breakdown):30- 29M, 33R, 31W, 27S
ACT superscore (breakdown):only once
SAT II (subject, score):taken, but not in time for app
Unweighted/Weighted GPA:I’m not sure? 4.0 UW I think? I’ve switched schools a lot, so I’m not up to date on all my stats
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 25/275 I think- I only got to take AP courses this year because my old school didn’t allow it
AP/IB (place score in parentheses):Never got to take an AP course before this year, but I did take the tests at other schools on my own throughout high school- USGOV(4), APUSH(4), APLANG(4), APGERMAN(5)
Senior Year Course Load:AP Calc AB, AP Psych, “SAT Prep”(a side course), AP Macro and Micro, Anatomy, American Lit, AP Lit
Number of other ED applicants in your school: none I think? Maybe a quest bridge kid?
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Scholarship Recipient for a Year abroad, High School Diplomats Scholarship for a cultural exchange program at Princeton, State Winner for Argumentative Essay in Literary Competition, Washington Youth Tour EMC Scholarship, all region player for volleyball 2 years, …and a couple others that I can’t remember right now. Basically I did what I love
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Honor? Honor roll all through High school,

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Oh boy…So this is the short list because I don’t have time to type it all. Basically throughout high school, I’ve gotten involved in things I love, and they keep me busy
-Varsity Volleyball(9-11) Captain in 11th (played vball last year while I was in Germany on exchange too, and team manager at my new school because I got back late for tryouts)
-Varsity Swim(9-12) Captain at my old school 9-11
-Founded a Beta club at my old school and president (11) now a part of my new school’s BETA club
-head drama stage manager (9-11)
Literary team(8-11)
Poetry out loud region winner(12)
Co-Student body president (10)
Dutch exchange week while I was in Germany through my school
There’s lots of other things, but those are probably the big things that would stand out

Job/Work Experience:
-CFA for like a year
-Consignment sale organizer

Volunteer/Community Service:
-Lots of little stuff
-headed a partnership with my school and a new volunteer opportunity starting in 9th grade
-Co-founded and led an English learning group for underclassmen in Germany

Summer Experience:Scholarship programs to DC, Youth Leadership Scholarship camps here in state, High school Diplomats, Study Abroad went until July this year…basically very busy
Teacher Recommendation #1:pretty good I think. He’s an amazing teacher(My AP Calc teacher, and even though I’m not the best Calc student (I never really got precal and I kinda came into his class blind), he’s seen my literally go from failing test scores to some of the top in the class because I come and work on math in his room every day after school. So he’s only known me a few months, but good I hope.
Teacher Recommendation #2: I’m also not really sure, I’ve known her for years and she loves me, but she’s unconventional and frankly probably has no idea how to write a college rec letter, but her power and enthusiasm usually shines through to everyone
Counselor Rec: Probably pretty generic. I’ve also known her only a few months, but she seems to like me and I’ll often end up taking to her for a long time even when I mean to just pop into her office. My school doesn’t have a lot of kids who want to go out of state or anything, so I’m kinda an exception to her.
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview: We talked for over an hour and I think I spent as long asking him questions as he spent asking me questions. Our conversation was basically very interesting, but he was very monotone the entire time, so idk. He also was a Huntsman alum and I felt like we were more in love with different aspects of the program (me the international and him the finance).

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details): Biggest issues with essays was that I changed them all last minute (like rewrote 3 days before because I didn’t like my earlier ones). All of my writing is 100% me- honest and personality.
Why Penn: Honestly I think it was pretty good, probably not perfect though. I focused on Huntsman and Wharton and how the mix of influences fits me.
Any dual-degree program essays: About women in business and global equality. Also not perfect, but probably not bad.
CommonApp Essay: By far my favorite. Centered on one of my favorite events studying abroad and what my friends there helped me learn about the world and about life. Very genuine.

Other:
Date Submitted App: 11:59 the night it was due
Applied for Financial Aid? yup
U.S. State/Territory or Country: GA, US
School Type: Now public, last year German, before that very small private
Ethnicity: white
Gender: female
Income Bracket Range:can’t say exactly
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): LGBTQ+, but I didn’t really get a chance to emphasize it in much of my application because I can’t be super out yet, so it was very understated

Reflection
Strengths: I’m a genuine, home-grown applicant. I decided a few years ago I wanted more that I was getting, and I went for it- I took extra college classes and AP tests, created opportunities where there were none, and applied for programs I really love. I don’t kill myself over just school and I really care, and I think that comes out well in my application. I got to be a part of a lot of amazing programs that probably looked pretty good as well.
Weaknesses: Not that many advanced classes before this year, erratic EC’s because of school switching, not an eye-catching SAT/ACT…
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted UGA, Berry, and U. South Carolina so far…
What would you have done differently?: Besides go to a different school at the beginning of hs (my old school held me back in a lot of ways), and maybe studying for SAT/Subjects more…oh and getting my essays more smoothed out!- well I really wouldn’t change anything. I feel like I got everything I wanted out of high school, had fun, learned and grew a lot, and didn’t spend all my time obsessing about how to get into college (probably why I was so unprepared but oh well). Upenn is a long shot, and right now I wouldn’t go back and change what got me this far

Other Factors:

17

[ color=orange]Decision: Rejected - M&T[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 800/730/18
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1530
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): 790 French 740 Math 2 710 Chem
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP/IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
Number of other ED applicants in your school:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Dean’s list

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Run Video Production Company as COO
Guitarist
President DECA & Band club, Guitarist
Started Ecommerce store
Job/Work Experience: Tech startup internship in operations
Volunteer/Community Service: tutoring
Summer Experience:
Teacher Recommendation #1: 10/10 french teach 1000 word rec
Teacher Recommendation #2: 5/10 cal teacher who did not know me well
Counselor Rec: 7/10 met a few times
Additional Info/Rec: 10/10 written by boss who i was super close with
Interview: 30 minute skype interview guy asked 2 questions (who are you? what do you do for fun?)

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 8 described research and interdisciplinary
Any dual-degree program essays: 8/10 talked about crypto
CommonApp Essay: 9/10 showed my love for tech and entrepreneurship

Other:
Date Submitted App: oct 31
Applied for Financial Aid? yes
U.S. State/Territory or Country: canada
School Type: canadian CEGEP
Ethnicity: Bengali
Gender:M
Income Bracket Range: 150k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

Reflection
Strengths:
Weaknesses: sat 2 scores and reference letter
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected:
What would you have done differently?: build more rapport with counselor and teachers. spend more time on essay

Other Factors:

18

[ color=green]Decision: Accepted - CAS[ /color]

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 33 (R: 36, M: 31, E: 32, S: 31)
ACT superscore (breakdown): 34 (R:36, M:32, E:35, S:32)
SAT II (subject, score): did not take-ik oof
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: school does not have gpa but I when I applied for some scholarships I had to calculate it and it was a 3.92/4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): School has no AP, IB or Honors course (Crazy right!!)
Senior Year Course Load:
Literature Seminar: Exile and Immigration
Calculus II
20th Century Morality
Forensics
Spanish Literature
Studio Art

Number of other ED applicants in your school: 3 including me (other two were both legacies) but my school is small only 60 kids in my grade
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
NSLI-Y Scholarship: state department merit-based scholarship to study abroad in China for 6 weeks
Leadership Experiment Institute Scholarship: merit-based scholarship to study abroad in India for 4 weeks
Yale Young Global Scholars: Politics and Economics (idk if this counts lol…)
American Heart Association Lifesaver Award
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Founder of School’s Jewish Affinity Group (11, 12)
Editor of School Newspaper (9,10,11,12)
Invited Participant of School’s student hiring committee (11+12)

Job/Work Experience:
Intern for New York Supreme Court Justice (11+12)
Social Media Director and Administrative Assistant at an Immigration Lawfirm (11+12)
Summer Intern at a Criminal Justice Lawfirm
Birthday Party Supervisor at an Arts and Crafts Studio (since 6th grade-11)

Volunteer/Community Service:
American Heart Association (AHA) Red Cap Child Ambassador (since 5th grade-present): speak at various AHA events and tell survivor story. Team leader for Wallstreet Run and Heart Walk.
CPR: Taught CPR to the entire student body and got it implemented into the curriculum taught 220+ ppl to date. Also started teaching free classes at local community centers.
United Synagogue Youth (USY): on Regional Executive Board for my region where we planned events for 300+ people. I also oversaw an 11 person Regional General Board!

Summer Experience:
Experiment Leadership Insititute (12): see above
Middlebury Interactive Languages (11 and 10): did one summer in Spain and one in Vermont. 24/7 Spanish immersion program.
I also worked at Immigration firm (11+12), Supreme Court (12), and Criminal Justice Firm (11)

Teacher Recommendation #1: 10/10 (from my English teacher. I wrote many meaningful pieces in his class and we had a strong relationship)
Teacher Recommendation #2: 7/10 (from my math teacher. I honestly have no idea how good this is. I am an English-History person and my school made me get a letter of rec from one Humanities and one STEM teacher so yea. He liked me and I did well in his class but irdk…)
Counselor Rec: 9/10 (they really liked me!! But you never know)
Additional Info/Rec: 10/10!!! I had the head of the immigration firm I work at write me my letter and I saw it was really good! I also had the NY Supreme Court Justice I intern for send in a letter of rec but it was not through common app it was through the mail (according to court regulations it had to be done this way lol) I have no idea if it got to admissions or not tho…
Interview: 8/10. It was kind of uncomfortable she brought her daughter with her but she was very nice and gave me positive feedback afterward…

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 8.5/10 I think it was good it was very specific but did not state why I wanted to do my major just the major I wanted
Any dual-degree program essays:
CommonApp Essay: 10/10 I have a heart condition and wrote about how it gave me the drive to make a difference and help other not just in the US but globally. It touched upon all the strengths in my application (CPR work, and my law based internships) but in a way, I thought was humble and sincere. Probably the best piece of writing I have ever done it truly explained why I want to make a difference in this world.

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/31
Applied for Financial Aid?
U.S. State/Territory or Country: NJ
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White/Jewish
Gender: Female
Income Bracket Range: over 500,000
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): none rip

Reflection
Strengths: extracurriculars (work experience) and volunteer experience. Oh and my essays. They really showed why I want to be at Penn and make a difference in this world. Leadership and story (heart condition survivor who taught over 200 ppl CPR in her school and wants to continue to create change…)
Weaknesses: Test scores, No subject tests (really thought I was gonna get rejected bc of this but this just proves that you don’t need subject tests to get into Penn!!!),
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: first school I have heard back from
What would you have done differently?: Take subject tests not spend and overall not spend as much time stressing over my test scores.

Other Factors: I am so so so so happy right now!! I cannot believe it! Absolutely in shock!!

Also, I would love to offer anyone advice. I spent HOURS pouring over college confidential so if anyone needs help totally feel free to message me :slight_smile: Ik I would have appreciated it if someone had done this for me when I was applying!

19

Decision: Deferred - Wharton

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1560 – 790/770
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): one sitting
ACT (breakdown): 34 single sitting composite
ACT superscore (breakdown): 35 – 34e/36m/34r/36s two attempts
SAT II (subject, score): 800s on math 2 and physics
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 4.00UW ~4.5W
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):N/a
AP/IB (place score in parentheses):All 5s on Ap BC, Physics 1 C mech and E&M APUSH APGOV and a 6 on ib hl math
Senior Year Course Load:AP econ Ap chem IB further math, ib english hl, ib german hl
Number of other ED applicants in your school: none i think
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):none oof
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): Aps, Nat merit com, AIME qualifier

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): NHS VP volunteer organization and started a tutoring initiative thing after school cuz I like to tutor, 1st tenor sax in Band up until senior year bc work, pres of math club, member at my local jewish temple.
Job/Work Experience: Grocery stock clerk like 18 hrs a week sometimes less
Volunteer/Community Service: see above
Summer Experience: video games, helped some friends when they organized a tedx
Teacher Recommendation #1: Math teacher, we get along swimmingly
Teacher Recommendation #2: German teacher, awesome guy, let me tell him some stuff to write
Counselor Rec: she’s nice i talk to her some idk how unique tho
Additional Info/Rec: n/a
Interview: Really good, we had a lot in common the guy was really awesome and nice and said he would ‘sing my praises’, but honestly I dont know how much they look at the interveiw unless you cuss them out or dont show up, but still probably my favorite part of the app.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: I obviously thought it was pretty dope or I wouldn’t have submitted it lol
Any dual-degree program essays: none
CommonApp Essay: ^^

Other:
Date Submitted App: 10/31/18
Applied for Financial Aid? Yes please
U.S. State/Territory or Country: O-H–I-O
School Type: Public and good, but not one of those whack schools. ACT avg is like 24 for reference
Ethnicity: White jew
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: middle class suburbia
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): One of my uncles went to penn like 40 years ago and is a firefighter now so idk if that matters or not.

Reflection
Strengths: grades, scores, recs… essays?
Weaknesses: ECs are kinda generic and I didn’t start anything super special
Where else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Idk yet hopefully i get in somewhere lol
What would you have done differently?: Probably nothing this is better than I expected. Biggest help probably would’ve been if I came back from my Acl injury to play sports to make me more attractive to schools but that wouldn’t have been good for my health in all likelihood so I’d say I’m pleased with ending up where I did. There’s always the Wharton meme of “I could’ve started a business” but idk how true that really is, they want uniqueness more than that I think. This gives me confidence with my chances at other schools for RD. Penn as a whole I don’t believe defers more than they accept ED so i assume wharton does the same so Defer means like ~top30% not too shabby.

20

Decision: Rejected - Wharton

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1590: 800 M / 790CR (one sitting)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): Math Level II 800.
Unweighted/Weighted GPA: 3.7 unweighted/4.2 weighted
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP/IB (place score in parentheses): AP Bio (4); AP WH (3); AP Lit (3) - Did not submit any scores.
Senior Year Course Load: AP Econ. AP Stat; AP Calc BC; Hon Eng (AP Eng conflicts with AP STATS); AP Physics
Number of other ED applicants in your school: 2
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): none
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP scholar, honor roll

Subjective:
Extracurriculars:
HS Wind Ensemble (highest level band) 9- 12 French Horn
Guitar and Piano
Varsity Tennis (9-12)
Chess club (10-12)

Job/Work Experience:
Local restaurants - food prep and busser (10 - current (20 hours per week)
Volunteer/Community Service: Ski instructor (11- 12)
Summer Experience: restaurant work
Teacher Recommendation #1: 8/10 AP Spanish teacher
Teacher Recommendation #2: 9/10 Head of Math Department
Counselor Rec: 8/10 Tried to explain vast disparity between my standardized test scores and my GPA based on my decision to take the most challenging courses offered at my HS.
Additional Info/Rec: None
Interview: 8/10 Seemed to connect with interviewer and believe I effectively conveyed my interest in Penn.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Why Penn: 8/10 - tried to emphasize my interest in Penn and Wharton specifically based on my interest in data analytics and aptitude in math.

Any dual-degree program essays: N/A
CommonApp Essay: 9/10 - Felt (as does probably everyone else who has written one) it was unique and well written. Based on a real experience I had abroad and the ability to connect with people from other cultures etc.

Other: None
Date Submitted App:11/1 at 11:43 PM
Applied for Financial Aid? No
U.S. State/Territory or Country: MA
School Type: Public HS
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: Too much to qualify for financial aid
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athlete, development): Legacy

Reflection
Strengths: Standardized Test Scores/challenging curriculum
Weaknesses: low GPA/dearth of volunteer and business activities
Were else were you accepted/deferred/rejected: Still waiting
What would you have done differently?: Probably would not have made a difference, but would have focused more in HS on doing what it took to get As in all my classes even if it did not seem to be related to learning the subject matter.
Other Factors: